ghost of a presence
by EchoMoonHuntress
Summary: that is all she left behind, and that is all that lingers. -Morty/Jasmine


**Derr herr look it's my first Gym Leader ship. Before you ask, yes, I am an AlexandrianShipper. I was converted, but I still like this ship (SpiritShipping? Is that what it's called?).**

**Anyways, I don't own any characters blah blah blah. At the end, please review, as always, because when I see reviews I literally squeal and dance around in my bedroom. I'm not joking.**

* * *

Morty arrives at Olivine City at sunset.

He's hardly ever been to Olivine City, and while it is beautiful and breathtaking (just like her, just like the Gym Leader of the town), he feels guilty because it's new to him. He never thought of visiting Olivine, not once, while she, the delicate girl named Jasmine, made time to visit him at least once in Ecutreak City, everyday, often at night or late afternoon, and those visits, that beautiful girl was the one thing he could count on in his life to not change.

So when she did not show up, four days ago, he started to worry. He convinced himself it was nothing and that she was just busy—as Gym Leaders, who wasn't?  
But she did not show up the next day, or the following.

Steadily, his worry grew to anxiety to fear to panic. But he's always known how to hold his head in a situation—he simply packed up his belongings and set off for Olivine to calm his fears.

As he scans the city, he feels something strong wrap around him—a presence, almost like a ghost. His senses tell him it is Jasmine, his heart tells him that's ridiculous.

He pushes it away and wanders around the bayside city, looking for the Steel-Clad Defense Girl.

* * *

Nobody will tell him where she went, because they do not know either.

As his feet wander around the town, he feels a strong urge coming from the Olivine Café. He rushes there, his feet pounding against the smooth, gray concrete.

The presence—Jasmine's, his senses still persist—only grows stronger in there, but as he scans the crowd for her, he does not see her.

He asks a local waiter if she had been there earlier; the waiter shrugs and tells him to call her if he really wants to know. Mentally kicking himself for not thinking of that, Morty pulls out his Pokégear and calls Jasmine.

It goes rings on and on, not even going to voicemail. He hangs up, curses himself quietly, and then walks out of the Olivine Café.

Eerily, he feels a girl's (Jasmine's) presence, hovering outside, and in the dim light, he can almost make out an outline of her, the girl he was searching for.

A ghost of her presence hovers in front of him.

He ignores it, calls himself delusional, and starts for the Olivine Gym. Behind him, Jasmine's presence swoops after him, and her faint outline slowly grows brighter as they near the Gym.

* * *

The door is locked, the Gym says, 'CLOSED', but he ignores that. He kicks the door three times—BAM, BAM, BAM—and walks inside the Gym.

The lights are turned off, and there appears to be no sign of anything living. Everything looks bare and empty—it was as though everything that should've been colorful and bright disappeared with Jasmine when she left.

He heads for the light switch and flicks it on, and the lights flicker, as though they haven't been on in a long time. They shine a dead, sickly yellow light down on a steel platform, where Morty can only assume that Jasmine is supposed to be.

Lying on the platform is a clear inch of dust and a crumpled up wad of paper. He walks steadily towards the platform, feeling alone and scared (not for himself, but for Jasmine).

He unfolds the wad of paper when he reaches the platform. The ink is smeared and the paper is ripped at parts, but he can decipher what she wrote:

_Morty,_

_This note was meant for you. I…have not visited in days. I'm sorry. I left…to Sinnoh. I don't know how long I'll be there. Do not…call…or…miss…me. I'm sorry._

_Love,_

_Jasmine_

When he finishes the note, he feels even more alone. As he looks around, he notices the walls are gray and bare and ugly, and the ground is dusty and are a metallic brown, and that he is virtually the only thing that breathes in there.

The Gym feels empty without its Gym Leader, as does he. He does not feel alive, he does not feel dead, he just feels…empty, somebody who exists yet does not feel nor see.

Because she, Jasmine, was his everything, the one thing that he could count on to make him smile and laugh and feel happy, and now she's gone and she took her happiness with her, and that's when he realizes: Jasmine's presence, the ghost of the presence that he has been following for quite a while, the one thing she left behind for him (he's certain of it), has also shriveled up, and is gone, poof.

He crumples up the note and starts to cry.


End file.
